Accelerated release for Oz comedy-thriller

14 July, 2015 by
Don Groves

EOne will test the potential for a limited theatrical launch followed quickly by home entertainment release with Kriv Stenders’ Kill Me Three Times.

The comedic thriller, which stars Simon Pegg, Alice Braga, Luke Hemsworth, Teresa Palmer, Callan Mulvey and Sullivan Stapleton, will have Q&A screenings in Sydney, Melbourne and Perth next month and will be available on digital platforms and on DVD and Blu-ray on September 9.

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Separately the distributor has confirmed Tony Ayres’ Cut Snake will have a conventional cinema release starting on September 24.

EOne MD Troy Lum described the Kill Me Three Times strategy as direct-to-consumer, observing. “This style of release reflects eOne's desire to drive unique ways to connect films with audiences in a shifting landscape, while allowing the film to be presented to the widest possible audience across the country.”

Stenders (who recently wrapped Blue Dog) and producer Tania Chambers will support the release via a publicity tour and Q&A screenings in those three cities.

“I’m genuinely excited about eOne’s pioneering release strategy as it means our film will be positioned, seen and enjoyed by a large Australian audience that now chooses what it wants to see, when, and how," Stenders tells IF.

"The future of film distribution in this country has arrived and I’m simply glad to be a part of it.”

The producers, Screen Australia and digital agency Loud & Clear have launched an interactive Twitter and Facebook transmedia experience for the film.

Participants can immerse themselves in the story over three days via individualised phone, email, social media and video messages involving Pegg’s character, an assassin who discovers he isn't the only person trying to kill the siren of a surfing town.

Fans can register online at http://killmethreetimes.com/experience

This strategy avoids the expense of a conventional P&A campaign and will enable the producers to maximise home entertainment revenues from the awareness generated by the publicity tour and screenings.

The rationale was similar to Transmission Films’ decision to opt for limited cinema releases for Strangerland and Slow West after their Sydney Film Festival premieres, followed several weeks later by DVD and VOD.

Scripted by James McFarland and produced by Chambers, Laurence Malkin and Share Stallings, Kill Me Three Times had its world premiere at the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival and has been sold to more than 70 countries.

In the US, Magnolia Pictures launched the film on iTunes and other VOD outlets on March 26, followed by cinema release in around a dozen cities on April 10.

Crime thriller Cut Snake had its world premiere at last year’s Melbourne International Film Festival. In the 1970s-set film scripted by Blake Ayshford, Stapleton plays Pommie, an ex-crim who tracks down his former cellmate Sparra (Alex Russell), who is trying to go straight with his soon-to-be-wife Paula (Jessica de Gouw) .

Producers Trevor Blainey and Michael McMahon are working on US release plans with distributor Monterey Media. Last year Monterey distributed Aaron Wilson’s Singapore-shot WW2 drama Canopy in the US.